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THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES

OF
HUMID AIR
Models and Background

M. CONDE ENGINEERING, 2007

Disclaimer
This document reports results of our own work, based on results published by others, in the open literature.
The author, his firm, and his associates assume no responsibility whatsoever regarding whatever consequences,
direct or implied, that may result from their use or misuse.
In no circumstances shall the author, his firm, and his associates be made liable for any losses of profit, or other
commercial damages, including, but not limited, to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.

M. Conde Engineering, Zurich 2007

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Properties of Working Fluids - Moist Air 1 / 22

Fluid Properties
The models of the components used in HVAC equipment and plants require the knowledge
of a large number of thermodynamic and transport properties of the fluids they handle. In a
model conceived for design purposes those properties must be calculated for real fluids, as
stressed by Black (1986). The fluids used may be undergoing a cyclic process, such as the
operating fluid in a chiller or heat pump, or may be totally or partially recirculated as the source
and sink fluids, mostly humid air, water or a brine. The thermodynamic and transport properties
of operating fluids are required for the liquid and the vapour phases, and for the two-phase
liquid-vapour region as well. Water and brine properties are mostly necessary for the liquid
phase, although solid water (frost and ice) properties may as well be required when the source
fluid is atmospheric air, or an ice producing heat pump. This document describes the equations
necessary for the calculation of the thermophysical (thermodynamic + transport) properties of
moist air in a coherent manner, and gives the necessary parameters.

Properties of Humid Air


Thermodynamic Properties
The thermodynamic properties of atmospheric air humid air are calculated from a virial
equation of state (Himmelblau 1960, Mason and Monchick 1963, Hyland and Wexler 1973, 1983
a, 1983 b, Flik and Conde 1986). Humid air is treated as a binary mixture of two real gases, dry
air and water vapour. The composition of dry atmospheric air is assumed to be that given by
Harrison (1965). Harrison's value of the molecular mass of dry air, Ma = 28.9645 g/mol, is used
throughout the equations. The molecular mass of water is taken as Mw = 18.016 g/mol. About
the notation in the following, a bar over a symbol means that it is considered on a molar basis.

Equation of State (EOS)


The thermodynamic states of the two components individually and of the mixture are
described by a virial EOS truncated after the third virial coefficient.

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EOS for Air

[1]

The parameters of the equations are


i

0.349568x102

0.125975x104

-0.668772x104

-0.190905x106

-0.210141x107

0.632467x108

0.924746x108

EOS for Water Vapour


The EOS for water vapour is

[2]

The parameters of the equation are


i

0.70x10-8

0.104x10-14

-0.147184x10-8

-0.335297x10-17

1734.29

3645.09

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EOS for the Mixture


The EOS for humid air is

[3]

Xa and Xw are the molar concentrations of air and water vapour in the mixture, respectively.
Baw, Caaw, and Caww are the second and third cross-virial coefficients of the air-water vapour
mixture, respectively. They are calculated from

[4]

with
i

0.32366097x102

0.482737x103

-0.10728876x102

-0.141138x105

0.105678x106

0.347802x104

-0.1244535x107

-0.656394x108

-0.383383x106

0.0

0.299444x1011

0.33406x108

-0.2348789x1010

-0.319317x1013

-1.0x106

Molar Volume of the Mixture


The molar volume of the mixture is calculated from
[5]

where the virial coefficients are as defined before.

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Molar Enthalpy of the Mixture


The molar enthalpy of the mixture is calculated as

[6]

with
i

0.63290874x101

-0.5008x10-2

0.28709015x102

0.32491829x102

0.26431805x10-2

0.65576345x10-2

-0.10405863x10-4

-0.26442147x10-4

0.18660410x10-7

0.517517889x10-7

-0.9784331x10-11

-0.31541624x10-10

The reference state currently adopted for the computation of the enthalpy of humid air is
0 EC, at normal sea level pressure (p = 101325.16 Pa), and null water vapour content, with the
molecular enthalpy set to zero (0.0) at that point. The integration constant hG 'a is -7914.1982
J/mol. Choosing the reference state for water as the liquid state at the triple point, with null
enthalpy, leads to the integration constant hG 'w = 35994.17 J/mol. The derivatives of the cross
virial coefficients Bm and Cm with respect to temperature are from their respective equations
given before.

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Molar Entropy of the Mixture


The molar entropy of humid air is calculated from

[7]

with U0 = U x 106, and the other parameters given in the following.


i

0.34373874x102

0.2196603x101

0.52863609x10-2

0.19743819x10-1

-0.15608795x10-4

-0.70128225x10-4

0.24880547x10-7

0.14866252x10-6

-0.12230416x10-10

-0.14524437x10-9

0.28709015x102

0.55663583x10-13
0.32284652x102

The integration constants for the reference states as given above, are

s 'a = -196.125465 J/(mol K)

s 'w = -63.31449 J/(mol K).

The cross virial coefficients Bm and Cm, are given above.

Specific Volume, Enthalpy and Entropy per Unit mass of Dry Air
The conversion of the volume, enthalpy and entropy from a molar basis to massic
quantities, per unit mass of dry air, is done by dividing the molar values by the actual mass of
dry air in the mole of mixture:
[8]

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Mole Fraction and Humidity Ratio


The molar concentrations of water vapour and dry air in the mixture at saturation, Xws, Xas
are given by
[9]

where psv is the saturation pressure of water vapour over liquid or solid water. p is the total
pressure of the mixture. f is a dimensionless quantity introduced by Goff (1949), the so-called
enhancement factor. It is a function of pressure and temperature, and accounts for the nonideal
behaviour of the mixture in the saturated state. The saturation pressure, [kPa], of water over
solid and liquid water is given by (Saul and Wagner 1987),
[10]

with the definitions

[11]

and the coefficients


Pcr,H2O [kPa] =

22 064

Tcr,H2O [K ] =

647.14

213.15 K # T # 273.16 K

273.16 K # T # 647.14 K

A1

2.442 663

-7.858 230

A2

-11.413 077

1.839 910

A3

-15.109 346

-11.781 100

A4

1.119 193

22.670 500

A5

18.159 568

-15.939 300

A6

-6.138 264

1.775 160

The equation for saturation over liquid water also reproduces well measurements over
subcooled water down to 223.15 K.

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The enhancement factor f, as derived by Hyland and Wexler (1973b) is

[12]

where vc is the molar volume of the condensed phase given as

[13]

for liquid water, and


[14]

for solid water. The coefficients are


i

-0.2403360201x104

0.1070003x10-2

-0.140758895x101

-0.249936x10-7

0.1068287657

0.371611x10-9

-0.2914492351x10-3

0.373497936x10-6

-0.21203787x10-9

-0.3424442728x101

0.1619785x10-1

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M. CONDE ENGINEERING 2007

is the isothermal compressibility of the condensed phase. Kell (1975) proposes the
following equation for its calculation over liquid:

[15]

Over solid water, the following equation is suggested by Leadbetter (1965)


[16]

The coefficients are

0 < t # 100 EC

100 < t # 150 EC

0.5088496x102

0.50884917x102

0.6163813

0.62590623

0.1459187x10-2

0.13848668x10-2

0.2008438x10-4

0.21603427x10-4

-0.5847727x10-7

-0.72087667x10-7

0.4104110x10-9

0.46545054x10-9

0.1967348x10-1

0.19859983x10-1

Hyland and Wexler (1983) state that the above Eq. [15] may be used for temperatures up
to 200 EC "with little degradation in accuracy".
a is the Henry's law constant for air. This constant relates the mole fraction of a gas
dissolved in the condensed phase to its partial pressure in the gaseous phase. The Henry's law
is expressed as
[17]

where

is the Henry's law constant

pGG

is the partial pressure of the solute gas in the gaseous phase

XGL

is the molar concentration of the solute gas in the condensed phase.

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a is related to the individual values for oxygen, O, and for nitrogen, N, over water,
assuming the air to be composed of just these two main components.
[18]

O and N are calculated according to Himmelblau (1960) as


[19]

with the coefficients


i

-1.142

2.846

-2.486

0.9761

-0.2001

is defined as

[20]

where Tc = 647.25 K is the critical temperature of water. The other values are given for
oxygen and nitrogen in the following table.
1/Tmax

max

[K-1]

[atm/mol fraction]

oxygen

2.73x10-3

7.08x104

844.3/T - 1.305

nitrogen

2.80x10-3

12.39x104

797.2/T - 1.232

substance

For a given temperature T, is calculated and used in the equation for to determine its
value for oxygen and nitrogen. This permits the calculation of a. For temperatures lower than
273.15 K, the value 1/a is assumed null. Himmelblau (1960) claims that errors in N and O do
not exceed 3% for 283.15 K < T < 433.15 K, and 15.1% for 273.15 K < T < 647.0 K.

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The condensed phase is assumed to be solid water if T is smaller than the melting
temperature of ice, TM, which is given by Zemansky and Dittman (1981) as
[21]

where TTP is the triple point temperature of water, 273.16 K, and pTP is the triple point
pressure of water 0.006112 bar.
The equation for the enhancement factor f, may now be solved by iteration on both Xas and
f, up to an accuracy 1 part in 106 or better for f.
The humidity ratio, , is the amount of water vapour (mass) per unit mass of dry air in the
mixture. Mathematically,
[22]

where Mw and Ma are the molecular masses of water and air, respectively.
The actual mole fraction of water vapour in the mixture, Xw, and of air, Xa, are respectively
[23]

where n is the relative humidity1, defined as

[24]

Dew-Point Temperature
The dew-point temperature, for humid air, is the temperature at which water vapour
condensation (or desublimation) first occurs, at the same pressure and humidity content
(humidity ratio), when cooling a given sample of air. Mathematically it may be expressed as
[25]

In some processes, particularly those involving precipitation from the air, either liquid or solid water, it is
more practical to use the concept of Degree of Saturation , defined as the ratio of the actual water vapour content
in the air (all water in whatever form) to the water vapour content at saturation at the same temperature and total
pressure. Mathematically,

. While n is by definition bounded to the range 0 ! 1, varies in the range


p ,T

0 ! 4. At pressures near atmospheric and temperatures below ~ 25 C, n and are practically undistinguishable
for # 1.

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for dry air (n = 0.0), the dew appears not any more as water but as liquid air. The dew point
temperature has then to be determined from the dew line equation for air. A six parameter
equation of the Saul & Wagner (1987) type is used for this purpose. This is an equation giving
the saturation pressure as function of the dew point temperature and has therefore to be solved
iteratively. The Newton-Raphson method is the most appropriate for this purpose. For pressures
higher than the critical pressure of air (37.85 bar) the dew first appears when crossing the critical
temperature line, which then represents the dew point temperature. The equation for the dew line
pressure is

[26]

The same form of the equation also applies for the bubble line. Although it is not required
here, the respective parameters are given below as well for the sake of completeness.

Pcr,air [bar] =

37.8502

Tcr,air [K ] =

132.62

ADEW

ABUBBLE

-6.756 572 06

-4.887 365 24

2.413 371 88

-1.880 307 58

-2.747 563 26

30.318 692 63

-8.134 449 89

-59.896 274 34

10.967 841 77

31.064 562 46

-12.233 885 33

6.173 064 75

Equation [25] above must be solved iteratively, and an algorithm for its solution is
described by the flow diagram depicted in Fig. 1.

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Figure 1 - Flow diagram describing the algorithm to calculate


the dew-point temperature of humid air.

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Properties of Working Fluids - Moist Air 13 / 22

Thermodynamic Wet-Bulb Temperature Cooling Boundary


For any state of an air-water vapour mixture, there exists a temperature TWB, at which liquid
(or solid) water may evaporate (sublimate) into the air, to bring it to saturation at exactly the
same tempearture and pressure, adiabatically. In the constant pressure process, the humidity ratio
is increased from a given initial value o to the value WB corresponding to the saturation at TWB.
The enthalpy increases from the initial value ho = hm(T,o,p) to the value hWB = hm(TWB,WB,p)
corresponding to saturation at TWB. The mass of water added per unit mass of dry air is
(WB - o), which in turn adds energy to the mixture by an amount of (WB - o)hc(TWB). hc(TWB)
denotes the specific enthalpy of the added water, either solid, hS, or liquid, hL, at the temperature
TWB. Mathematically expressed,
[27]

The enthalpy of the saturated condensed phase is, for solid water (Hyland and Wexler
1983)
[28]

with
i

-0.647595x103

0.274292

0.2910583x10-2

0.1083437x10-5

0.107x10-5

Psv,s(T) is the saturation pressure of water vapour over solid water already defined.
For saturated liquid water (Hyland and Wexler 1983) the enthalpy is

[29]

where is calculated for the following three different ranges:


for 273.15 # T # 373.15 K as
[30]

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for 373.15 # T # 403.128 K as


[31]

and for 403.128 # T # 473.15 K as


[32]

The coefficients for these three equations are


i

-0.11411380x104

-0.1141837121x104

0.41930463x101

0.4194325677x101

-0.8134865x10-4

-0.6908894163x10-4

0.1451133x10-6

0.105555302x10-6

-0.1005230x10-9

-0.7111382234x10-10

-0.563473

0.6059x10-6

-0.036

and
[33]

vL has been defined before for the condensed phase (liquid), and the derivative of the
saturation pressure is easy to obtain from the equations given before.
For T = 273.16 K, becomes = 0.01214 kJ/kg, and hL is then
[34]

The thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature equation must be solved iteratively. The flow
diagram for an algorithm that solves it is depicted in Fig. 2.

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Figure 2 - Flow diagram describing the algorithm to calculate


the wet-bulb temperature of humid air.

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Transport Properties of Humid Air


The transport properties of humid air considered here are:
- the thermal conductivity
- the dynamic viscosity
- the specific isobaric thermal capacity
- the Prandtl number
- the diffusivity of water vapout in the air, and
- the Schmidt number for water vapour diffusion.

The ranges of validity of the equations are also summarized at the end of this section.

Transport Properties of Mixtures of Gases


Mason and Saxena (1958) derived an approximate formula for the transport properties of
gas mixtures, and Mason and Monchick (1963) discussed its adaptation to the cases where one
of the components is water vapour. Cheung et al. (1962) used measurements on some 266
mixtures of gases to test the Mason and Saxena approximate equation. The Mason and Saxena's
equation is

[35]

Px,y stands for a generalized property of the component y, and the Xx stands for the molar
concentrations of the component x in the mixture. The Gi,j and Gj,i are functions of the viscosity
of the components in the mixture, calculated according to Wilke (1950).
[36]

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Properties of Working Fluids - Moist Air 17 / 22

These reduce, for humid air, to

[37]

The molar concentrations of dry air and water vapour, respectively Xa and Xw are related
to the humidity ratio, (kg H2O per kg dry air) as

[38]

The individual properties of each component are calculated by polynomial equations


adjusted to data published by Mason and Monchick (1963). Their general form is
[39]

with the coefficients


Water Vapour
i

Dry Air

-0.35376x10-2

-0.97494x10-6

0.669881x10-3

0.143387x10-5

0.654755x10-4

0.359061x10-7

0.942482x10-4

0.656244x10-7

0.174460x10-7

0.241612x10-12

-0.327450x10-7

-0.29905x10-10

Specific Thermal Capacity of Humid Air


Although Cp is a thermodynamic property, it has been included here out of pure
convenience. It is calculated from the approximate equation
[40]

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Prandtl Number of Humid Air


The Prandtl number is calculated using its definition and the properties and equations
described above.

Diffusivity of Water Vapour in the Air


This is an important transport property, necessary in the simulation of processes involving
mass transfer phenomena with humid air. It may be calculated from the kinetic theory of gases,
which requires the evaluation of such parameters as the reduced collision integral for diffusion,
and the mean molecular free path (Mason and Monchick 1963). The method used in this
application is based on the work of Rossi (1953) which provides equations for the diffusion of
water vapour in the air in the temperature range from -20 EC to 300 EC. The equations are

[41]

with p in [Pa].

Schmidt Number for Water Vapour Diffusion in the Air


The Schmidt number is defined as

[42]

where v is the specific volume of humid air, related to the mass of dry air.

Range of Validity of the Equations


The equations presented for the transport properties of humid air are valid in the range
193.15 # T # 573.15 K,
and for pressures not far from the atmospheric.

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Calculation of the Thermophysical Properties of Humid Air


Computer programs to calculate the thermophysical {thermodynamic + transport}
properties of humid air have been implemented in various programming languages, for various
operating systems, since 1984. Basically, the individual procedures and functions use a triplet
as input, and output a single property value (see the table below for the thermodynamic
properties). More recently MathCad calculation sheets have also been established based on this
very same set of equations.
The calculation of the thermodynamic properties of humid air (in compiled programs) use
addressed routines specified in a standard form. These routines are embedded in a single function
PsychProp which is called as
Output Var := [module.]PsychProp (Input Var 1, Input Var 2, Input Var 3, Index)
where Index is selected from the following table, given the combination of variable to be
calculated,
Output Var,
and the set of input (known) variables,
Input Var 1, Input Var 2, Input Var 3.

Input

Output
n

TDB

TWB

TDP

TDB

13

14

15

16

17

18

TDB

TWB

21

24

25

26

27

28

TDB

TDP

31

33

35

36

37

38

TDB

41

43

44

45

47

48

TDB

51

53

54

56

57

58

61

62

63

64

67

68

72

73

74

76

77

78

The transport properties are, in general, calculated from directly addressed functions.

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Properties of Water
The properties of water required in the simulation of components, equipments and plants
for HVAC applications include properties for the liquid and solid phases, and the enthalpies of
condensation and sublimation. The properties of solid water are not for ice, but for frost, which
in its process of deposition onto metallic or other surfaces, has properties that vary with density
and temperature. The density of frost depends on the time since the start and on the intensity of
the mass transfer process. Since most simulation tools do not describe this time dependency, the
properties of frost are estimated values where the density is given an average value, and the other
properties are considered functions of the temperature at that density. The equations are
polynomials of the third degree, or less, adjusted to data in the literature. Their general form is

[43]

with the coefficients given bellow.


The ranges of validity are, for liquid water
273.15 # T < 363.15 K,
and for frost
233.15 # T # 273.16 K.

Property

Px,0

Px,1

Px,2

Px,3

0.123946x102

-0.732089x10-3

0.215735x10-3

-0.209977x10-6

Liquid H2O

-0.49803

0.595589x10-2

-0.750x10-5

0.0

Liquid H2O

0.116511

-0.100390x10-2

0.290714x10-5

-0.28193x10-8

Pr Liquid H2O

0.997904x103

-0.866620x101

0.252416x10-1

0.245920x10-4

Liquid H2O

-0.435062x101

0.903614x101

-0.259728x10-1

0.232507x10-4

h Sublimation

0.265139x104

0.186735x101

-0.389780x10-2

0.0

h Condensation

0.314712x104

-0.23660x101

0.0

0.0

Frost

0.250x103

0.0

0.0

0.0

Frost

0.12020x10-4

0.9630

0.0

0.0

Cp Liquid H2O

The units are SI units except for the enthalpies and specific thermal capacities where kJ/kg
and kJ/kg K are used, respectively.

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References
Black, C. 1986. Importance of Thermophysical Data in Process Simulation, Int. J. Thermophysics, 7(4), 987-1002.
Cheung, H. L., A. Bromley, C. R. Wilke 1962. Thermal Conductivity of Gas Mixtures, AIChE Journal, 8(2), 221.
Flik, M. I., M. R. Conde 1986. PSYCH1 - A Pascal Procedure for the Calculation of the Psychrometric Properties
of Mois Air, Internal Report, Energy Systems Laboratory, ETH Zurich.
Goff, J. A. 1949. Standardization of Thermodynamic Properties of Moist Air, ASHVE Transactions, 459-484.
Grassmann, P. 1983. Physikalische Grundlagen der Verfahrenstechnik, 3. Aufl., Salle, Frankfurt, S. 95.
Harrison, L. P. 1965. Fundamental Concepts and Definitions relating to Humidity, in Humidity and Moisture Measurement and Control in Science and Industry, Proc. Int. Symp. on Humidity and Moisture, Vol. 3 Fundamentals and Standards, 3-256, Reinhold, New York.
Himmelblau, D. M. 1960. Solubility of Inert Gases in Water 0 C to near the Critical Point of Water, J. Chem. Eng.
Data, 5(1), 10-15.
Hyland, R. W., A. Wexler 1973a. The Enhancement of Water Vapor in Carbon Dioxide - free air at 30, 40 and
50 C, J. Res. NBS, 77A(1), 115-131.
Hyland, R. W., A. Wexler 1973b. The Second Interaction (Cross) Virial Coefficient for Moist Air, J. Res. NBS,
77A(1), 133-147.
Hyland, R. W., A. Wexler 1983a. Formulations for the Thermodynamic Properties of Dry Air from 173.15 K to
473.15 K, and of Saturated Moist Air from 173.15 K to 372.15 K, at Pressures up to 5 Mpa, ASHRAE
Trans., 89/2, 520-535.
Hyland, R. W., A. Wexler 1983b. Formulations of the Thermodynamic Properties of the Saturated Phases of H2O
from 173.15 K to 473.15 K, ASHRAE Trans., 89/2, 500-519.
Kell, G. S. 1975. Density, Thermal Expansivity, and Compressibility of Liquid Water from 0 C to 150 C:
Correlations and Tables for Atmospheric Pressure and Saturation, Reviewed and Expressed on the 1968
Temperature Scale, J. Chem. Eng. Data, 20(1), 97-105.
Leadbetter, A. J. 1965. The Thermodynamic and Vibrational properties of H2O and D2O Ice, Proc. Roy. Soc.,
A287, 403.
Mason, E. A., L. Monchick 1963. Survey of the Equations of State and Transport Properties of Moist Gases,
Humidity and Moisture - Measurement and Control in Science and Industry, Int. Symp. Humidity and
Moisture, Vol. 3 - Fundamentals and Standards, 257-272, Reinhold, New York.
Mason, E. A., S. C. Saxena 1958. Approximate Formula for the Thermal Conductivity of Gas Mixtures, The
Physics of Fluids, 1(5), 361-369.
Saul, A., W. Wagner 1987. International Equations for the Saturation Properties of Ordinary Water Substance, J.
Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, 16(4), 893-901.
Rossi, K. 1953. Die Diffusion von Wasserdampf in Luft bei Temperaturen bis 300 C, Forsch. Ing.Wesen, 19, 4958.
Wilke, C. R. 1950. A Viscosity Equation for Gas Mixtures, J. Chem. Phys., 18, 517.

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